Williams v. StateWilliams v. State
Appellant Dorunte Williams was convicted of the malice murder of Stacy Barnett, aggravated assault involving family violence against Teresa Dubose, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. On appeal, he contends only that the trial court erred by admitting a hearsay statement under the necessity exception. We affirm.1
Following the incident with Dubose, Appellant went to a party hosted by Sherildon Scott, which began in the early afternoon. While at the party, Appellant was seen talking to Barnett, and Tarvarious Williams, Barnett‘s cousin, overheard Appellant tell Barnett that he had won the lottery and that someone was trying to hurt him. Appellant then left the party with someone who dropped him off at his friend Tom Ellis‘s house, and Barnett left with Tarvarious to go to the store that Barnett had recently opened. While traveling to the store, Barnett told Tarvarious that Appellant kept asking him questions about whether he was “messing around with” Appellant‘s girlfriend and that Appellant “made him feel weird” to the point that Barnett “didn‘t feel safe around him.”
Immediately after the shooting, Ellis drove Appellant to Atlanta and dropped him off near Memorial Drive. On the way, Appellant told Ellis about shooting Barnett “in the dome,” and Appellant threw Ellis‘s gun out of the passenger side window as they approached the Oconee River.
The next day, Dubose contacted the police to report the domestic violence incident with Appellant. Dubose was instructed to come to the police station, where she made several phone calls to Appellant, who told her that he was being framed for shooting Barnett. Two days later, on May 8, Atlanta police responded to a suspicious-person call and found Appellant near Memorial Drive. The responding officer learned that Appellant had outstanding warrants from Athens-Clarke County and arrested him. Several officers noted that Appellant appeared agitated and still spoke about his lottery ticket.
Appellant does not dispute the legal sufficiency of the evidence supporting his convictions. Nevertheless, as is this Court‘s practice in murder cases, we have reviewed the record and conclude that, when viewed in the light most favorable to the verdicts, the evidence presented at trial and summarized above was sufficient to authorize a rational jury to find Appellant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes for which he was convicted. See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307, 319 (99 SCt 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979). See also Vega v. State, 285 Ga. 32, 33 (673 SE2d 223) (2009) (” ‘It was for the jury to determine the credibility of the witnesses and to resolve any conflicts or inconsistencies in the evidence.’ ” (citation omitted)).
2. Appellant‘s sole contention is that the trial court erred in allowing Tarvarious Williams to testify as follows:
[Barnett] just stated to me that [Appellant] was asking him some questions about his girlfriend and saying that [Appellant] was — thought he was messing around with his girlfriend. And it made him feel weird, that he really didn‘t want to be around [Appellant], that he didn‘t know what was
wrong or what was going on, that he just didn‘t feel safe around him. . . . He just felt kind of weird, kind of icky. . . .
This testimony about Barnett‘s statement was undisputedly hearsay; the trial court admitted it under the necessity exception to the hearsay rule. See former
Hearsay evidence was admissible under the necessity exception if three requirements were met: (1) the declarant was unavailable; (2) the declarant‘s statement was relevant to a material fact and was more probative as to that fact than other evidence that may be procured and offered; and (3) the statement exhibited particularized guarantees of trustworthiness. See McNaughton v. State, 290 Ga. 894, 897-898 (725 SE2d 590) (2012). In this case, the declarant, Barnett, was clearly unavailable, as he had been killed by Appellant. See id. at 898. But Appellant asserts that the State failed to meet the second and third parts of the test. We disagree.
As to the second part, Barnett‘s statement was relevant to the material fact of Appellant‘s motive for shooting Barnett — his belief that Barnett was involved with his girlfriend, Dubose. See Rai v. State, 297 Ga. 472, 477 (775 SE2d 129) (2015). And the statement was more probative on this point than other available evidence, as it was the only evidence that provided a link between Appellant‘s belief that someone was plotting with Dubose to kill him and his decision to kill Barnett. There is no indication that the State could have procured other evidence on this point; the testimony at trial indicated that no witness heard the relevant portion of the conversation between Appellant and Barnett at the party.
As to the third part of the test, “[w]hether a statement is trustworthy is a matter for the trial court‘s discretion, and the exercise of such discretion will not be overturned absent an abuse of discretion.” Gibson v. State, 290 Ga. 6, 8 (717 SE2d 447) (2011). “Trustworthiness is assessed under the totality of the circumstances, including any motives the declarant may have had to be untruthful in making the statement . . . and the extent to which the declarant enjoyed a relationship of confidence with the witness.” Rai, 297 Ga. at 477. See also Thompson v. State, 294 Ga. 693, 697 (755 SE2d 713) (2014) (explaining in a case involving the testimony of the murder victim‘s cousin that “a statement is trustworthy where there is a showing that the deceased enjoyed a close personal relationship to the person who is testifying as to the statement“); Wright v. State, 276 Ga. 454, 458 (579 SE2d 214) (2003) (“[T]he trustworthiness of the statements is enhanced by the fact that [the declarant‘s] statements to the witnesses that concerned [the defendant‘s] behavior were made at times shortly after that behavior occurred.“).
Here, Barnett‘s statement bore significant indicia of trustworthiness because Tarvarious testified that Barnett was his cousin for whom he had “close feelings“; Barnett had no apparent motive to fabricate the statement; Barnett made the statement to Tarvarious shortly after the conversation between Barnett and Appellant; and the statement aligned with Dubose‘s testimony about Appellant‘s paranoid allegations. Appellant points out that Tarvarious did not tell the police about this statement until more than 18 months after the murder, when he was facing criminal charges.3 But that one point is not controlling. Considering all the circumstances, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting Tarvarious‘s testimony about Barnett‘s statement.
Judgment affirmed. All the Justices concur.